Dark Seraphine (The Seraphine Trilogy) (4 page)

“
Whoa!
”
I blurted and stumbled backward.
Walker
girl stood right in front of my face. I didn
’
t even hear her coming.

“
Easy
,
choir boy. You might hurt something useful
,”
she teased.

“
Why are you—what do you
,
why do you keep following me around?
”
There went that damn squeaky weak voice again.

“
I told you before. I need you.
”
A serious expression crossed her face.
That perfect nose. Those cute heart-shaped lips. Damn. If only she weren
’
t a
Walker
.
Her scent enveloped me
,
weakened me. I started to feel dizzy. What was she doing to me?

She moved closer to my body
as I stood
there plastered against the wall beside the entry to the kitchen. The way I figured it was if I needed to escape I now had easy access to the back door.

“
I won
’
t hurt you
,
Caleb. But I need for you to be ready.
”

“
Ready for what
,”
I muttered.
My mind was spinning out of control.

“
The
Dark Ones
.
”

“
The who
?
”

Someone or something banged against the back door.
The noise startled me so badly,
I almost wet my pants
.
Jerking my head around
,
I glanced at it. With my heart beating inside my throat
,
I turned back to face the
Walker
. Gone. Of course
,
she
’
d say something like she just did and disappear afterward. The banging increased. I was certain that the
Walker
didn
’
t do her vanish thing just to go
outside and come right back in
. Nope. Something else was out there. I hesitated a moment just before I swallowed
my fears
and headed toward it.

Outside the door
,
an aggravated
Kyle stood. He shoved past me and stalked into the kitchen.
“
Alright, so, dude, d
idn
’
t you hear me banging on the front door?
”

“
Wha—um
,
no. Sorry
,
man.
”
Reel those nerves in
guy
.

“
Did they bring Sakura
wearing a bikini
up on the screen
,
or something?
”
Kyle studied my face and frowned.
He was talking about one of the hottest chicks in the entire Naruto series.
“
Are you
alright
?
”

“
Yeah
,
man. Why wouldn
’
t I be?
”
Understated question of the decade.

“Duh! ‘Cause
you
locked me out. I banged on the door for a good
five minutes,” he said, trudging through the doorway.
“I’m still starving. Do you have any leftover tacos?
”

“
Sure.
”
I followed him
,
still feeling dazed and wondering what the freak was happening in my world now.
“
Everything all right with
the
ex
?
”
I needed a serious distraction.

“
Yeah
,
she
’
s cool.
”
He shrugged and ran a hand through his hair.
“
I don
’
t know
,
bro.
Shani
wants me back.
S
he mentioned s
omething
about her getting accepted at State and me heading out to Wake Tech.
All of t
h
at bothers her.
But what can
you
do
?
Girls be acting all crazy these days. Loving on ya one minute, and ready to hire a hit man to take out your ass the next. I don’t get it.
”
He made a funny light laugh which meant that he changed the truth up a bit.

Honestly, he was probably using the tough guy attitude right now to cover up for how he really acted while he was talking to Shani.

“
Are you sure that she
’
s the one all
shook up
by that news?
”
I asked
,
smirking.

“
All right
,
already. We made up
,”
he announced.

“
Thank God
,”
I said
,
throwing my hands up.
“
O
ne more pretty gray-brown eyes
comment from Shani and I was seriously going to start looking into getting a pair of colored contacts that matches your eyes
.
”

“
Hey. You best be glad that you
’
re my boy.
I’d hate to have to show the school how badly I could kick your ass. It would suck for you to lose your little self defense class over my ability to take you down
.
”
He gave me a serious look. I laughed at him until I soon
figured
out that he wasn
’
t really joking. At some point I
figure
d he would
tell me what happened with the two of them over the summer. His situation got my mind off
Mom’s
news anyway. It didn
’
t erase the sinking feeling that
the
Walker
with the cute nose and heart
-shaped
lips showing up inside my house meant that something big was most definitely
about to go
down.

* * *

On
Wednesday
,
I ran into Erica just before I reached the third period
class we shared. She stood on
a stool
,
trying to pin pictures of the girls from her cheerleading camp on the
“
What Did You Discover Over the Summer?
”
board in the hallway. My first notion was to just kind of turn around and melt into the crowd. I still felt crummy about the way I treated her. But the gentleman in me—the weakling that got me in trouble with the last girl who was all wrong for me—told me to help her out.

She
stretched toward the top of the case
,
attempting to put a trophy on the very top shelf. The
stool
started sliding just the tiniest bit to the left. I barely made it
over
to her before it
moved
all the way out from under her
,
sending Erica tumbling backwards right into my arms.

Gasping for breath
,
she turned around
and
leaned
her forehead against my chest. So
,
this
was
a bit awkward
as
everybody
in the hall
decided to stare at
us
. I prayed that
Thorne
was nowhere around. Last thing I needed was to begin my lacrosse
team’s
Fall B
all season with a broken arm.

“
God
,
I
’
m so glad you caught me
,”
she said
,
trembling.

“
Yeah
,
me too
,”
I answered truthfully. Her body was light. I mean
,
yeah she was petite
,
but I swear she didn
’
t weigh no more than like sixty pounds
,
or something close to that.
Okay, she probably weighed
more than that, but you get the point.

Glancing
at
my face
,
she gave
me
the chance to
check out
the strange green in her eyes. I wanted her to move back a bit. There were too many
gossip hounds
snickering and staring at us. Since we already stood there feeling embarrassed
,
it was a great time to make up for my less than stellar behavior. She
brushed at her clothing,
stepped back
,
and
then
stared at me
,
making me feel like walking away without saying a thing.

“
Hey
,
listen. I
’
m—um. About the other day
,”
I began.

“
You
’
re forgiven
,
Caleb
,”
she interrupted and smiled.

“
I had a lot going on that day
,”
I added.

“
Yeah. Me too. First week
jitters, I guess.”

Why did she have to be so nice? I always figured that with somebody like her it was all about the designer bags and $200 jeans. I didn
’
t expect this girl who stood in front of me.

Sighing
,
I shuffled on my feet. I suck
ed
at apologies.

“
What has the world come to? A guy
who is
sensitive
,
trusting
,
and ridiculously sexy
,
”
she gushed.
Bam! That
statement
most definitely caught me off guard.
“
Maybe there is hope
for man
kind
,”
she said and walked away
,
leaving me standing there
,
looking a
ll stupid with my body parts
going wild.
 

* * *

T
raining class that evening turned out to be an enjoyable experience for the first time in a long
while
. I
was
look
ing
forward to them
. Maybe
life after my ex-girlfriend
’
s move
to Nebraska
wasn
’
t as doomed as I thought.

Somewhere in the back of my mind
,
I couldn
’
t help but to think about the
Walker
girl and the
Dark Ones
she warned me about.
I could tell she was nearby. Something inside of me
felt her watching
,
even though she managed to stay invisible. Maybe what she said made me feel paranoid; but I swear I felt the eyes of somebody or something else watching me too.

Chapter Three

The first week of school flew by. I found myself looking forward to my defense
class.
Plus
,
Fall Ball for the
l
acrosse
team
geared
up. So on the three days I wasn
’
t helping
my classmates to stay
safe
,
I was on the field with Kyle taking out
frustration
s
with
my parents’ decision
to
move
on the little white ball.

I found it odd that
Erica
didn’t show
up for training that Tuesday or the following Thursday.
The
class would end
in October
. What good would a couple of
sessions
do for her? Whenever I passed by her and the rest of
her circle
,
aka cheerleaders
,
in the hallway she just waved or smiled and politely moved on.

Trigonometry turned out to be my worst enemy. On top of everyth
ing else I already had going on,
I just couldn
’
t get a handle on angles and arcs. If I wanted to be a computer engineer then I couldn
’
t blow off math like Shani who planne
d on becoming an English teacher
after high school.

The library seemed deathly quiet
,
making me feel like all kinds of things watched me while I sat there waiting on m
y math tut
or. Glancing in the library
’
s main office to the left side of the door
,
I jumped back in my seat. A man dressed in a
dark
trench coat stood just inside the doorway
,
and he stared straight at me.

Creepy!
Now
,
mind you weird dudes dressed in all black normally didn
’
t bother me much
,
but something about this guy wasn
’
t right. The entrance doors swung open and Erica walked in with another girl on the cheerleading squad. She caught me staring and headed straight toward my table after saying bye to her friend. I stole a moment to glance back at the office. Surprise. The dude dressed in all black was gone
,
just like that.

“
What
’
s going on
,
Caleb?
”
she asked
,
set
ting
her book
bag down.

“
I
’
m—um
,
waiting o
n
Mrs. Browning,”
I said
,
still glancing toward the office and not able to concentrate on Erica.

“
You mean
Barracuda
Browning
?
”
she asked.

“
Exactly. You know something I don
’
t?
”

“
She sent me here to help her students out today. Something about an emergency at home with her kid.
”

Aw man. Crap.
“
You missed practice
,”
I said.
I wanted to look like she wasn’t making me nervous.

A strange look crossed her face.
“
Yeah
,
well
,
I broke up with Thorn
e
. I needed some time.
”

The gut punching news just kept right on coming at me these days.
“
I
’
m sorry.
”

“
Don
’
t be
,”
she said
,
a smile creeping across her face.
“
He
’
s really a jealous jerk.
”

Oh hell.
“
Um
,
your new dating status
doesn’t
have anything to do with me
,
I hope
.
”

She sighed and tucked her lips.
“
Let
’
s j
ust say
that Thorn
e
could use
some
work in the sensitivity
area.
”
Smiling
,
she lowered her eyes; but not before I saw the tears. I thought of
M
om
’
s conversation last week and the pinky promise we made. Most of all I thought of that spoon aimed toward my eye.

I opened my book and pulled out a pencil. I
’
d do anything to lighten the moment. Deep
,
dark
,
depressing
,
and dreary: those were the four d
’
s I avoided at all costs.

“
And
yes
,
Caleb
, h
is
friends tattled on us the other day. You know how guys are. They made it seem like we were about ready to make out.
”
She
playfully rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue
.

I scoffed.
“
Aw
,
man.
They
’
re gonna skin me alive! So a
t what point should I expect my
castration t
o happen?
”

“
No bodily harm will come to you. I promise.
”

“
Yeah right. Hey listen
,
I’m
good on all this.
My mom
’
s been helping me out every night
too
.
”
I started to gather my books
,
but she placed a hand on mine.

“
Please don
’
t leave
,”
she
almost pleaded. Something in her eyes
,
an almost desperate look
,
made me stay.
“
I really wanted to say thank you for saving me. But I got so caught up, and everybody was staring. I just kind of panicked
.
”

I sat down and prepared to spend time with
Thorne
Wiggins’s ex-girlfriend. Okay, yeah. Kyle obviously wasn’t the only one who enjoyed getting punished.

It
took over an hour for me to get the hang of the various angles and the way they applied to the radian.
I didn’t
know how I was going to use any of this
.
I
simply wanted to develop video games and form my own company. What did arc lengths have to do with Unreal
’
s playing engine? Okay
,
so maybe it had a lot do with it
,
but still that wasn
’
t the point.
I could hire people to do this for me after I got rich.

Even though I wasn
’
t any good and I
pretty much
lied about my mom helping me out
, E
rica made me feel better when I screwed up. She teased me to no end
,
but hey
,
that was what made tutoring with her so much fun.

After about the fourth session
,
I was a radian pro. How could hanging around somebody that was all wrong for you
begin to
feel so right?
The way I figured it was that hell froze over without me knowing it. That must be what happened because in some bizarre way I think that I was starting to enjoy her company.

“
So Janie told me your parents wanna move in the spring
,”
she announced suddenly. Where did that come from?

I shrugged without saying a word.
“
I didn
’
t want to leave my home in
Alaska
either. But my
aunt and uncle
…
”
she stopped and sighed.
“
My parents are gone.  Anyway
,
I had a best friend that I left
behind
. We still talk. But I know how you feel.
”

“
Yeah
,
I guess going through trauma made it easier to leave.
”
Oh hell.
I squeezed my eyes closed.
I promised Mom that I wouldn’t talk about this with anybody
.

She scoffed a light laugh.
“
You know about that? Wow.
”
Her voice was barely a whisper.
“
I can
’
t believe my Aunt and Uncle
told people.
”

“
I won
’
t say a word to anyone. I promise.
”
My words fell on deaf
ears. She stood and gathered her things
,
dropping her calculator
,
and
refusing to look me in the face.

“
Erica
,
how can I fix this?
”
I asked
,
standing up too.

“
You can
’
t. No one can.
”
She gave me a teary-eyed look and then walked out of the library
without saying
goodbye
.

* * *

It was quite obvious that
Shani and Kyle made up
,
and then some. My friend and his girl slobbered all over each other at the lunch table. Grossed out didn
’
t even touch the way watching them made me feel. 

“
What costume are you going to wear for All Souls
,
Caleb?
”
Shani asked
,
coming up for air after kissing Kyle one last time before Principal Armstrong walked into the cafeteria.

I scoffed.
“
Are you kidding me? I
’
m not going. That
’
s
nothing but a
dumb waste of time.
”

“
Can we say somebody
’
s in a rotten mood these
days?” Shani
blurted.

“
That
’
s because I keep getting shot at by spitballs
. That
would be the back
slap from the two of you slobbering all over each other every day.
”
They wanted me to go to the
All Souls
Dance
,
a time to celebrate the city
’
s ghostly and mythical tales
,
an overinflated version of Halloween. We
’
re supposed to dress up like one of the mythical creatures (ghosts
,
pirates
,
vampires
,
mermaids
,
Bigfoot
,
whatever) and coordinate with our date. It
’
s embarrassing
,
believe me
,
I know.

“
Okay
,
bro. Time for some serious talk
,”
Kyle said and scooted his chair closer to me.
“
I liked
your girl
Tammy. She was cool.
But
she
’
s gone.
Y
ou
know
,
I kinda want my friend back. Remember him
,
right?
He wasn
’
t such a hard ass.
”